FicWad

The Shinobi of Legends

By CrossoverFanatic

Chapter 8 - The Lightning Raiders

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters who are originally from Ranma 1/2 or Naruto... even if I could own them, I'd much rather prefer to just create my own characters that can rival them in every shape and form.

In any case, original characters in this chapter consist of Hyuuga Natsumi, Uchiha Haruko, and the Lightning Raiders, and they do belong to me. Maybe I should copyright these characters, too bad I have no idea how to copyright something (I'm just that dumb and clueless).

Summary: In this chapter, Ranma will be reacquainted with an old friend and prospective love interest, and more original characters!!!
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"characters talking"

'characters thinking'
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Several people were gathered outside a snack stand, watching something that they didn't get to see quite often, a ninja-battle.

Uzumaki Ranma and Uchiha Haruko were engaged in a light spar, while Hyuuga Natsumi sat on the bench observing them and munching on delicious mochi (sweet rice-cake). What was surprising to the two veterans was that Haruko didn't know how to activate her Sharingan yet, even though she was at Chuunin-level, it seemed that she got that far by using her own strength and not relying on the doujutsu's. That was pretty impressive considering that members of advanced-bloodline clans usually rely on their special powers to gain power and status.

Currently both fighters were in a contest of strength, gripping each other's hands trying to overpower the other. Ranma was easily winning, when Haruko suddenly let herself fall to the ground, taking him down with her. The moment her back hit the floor, she kicked at his mid-section with both her feet and sent him flying into the air.

She jumped back to her feet, and threw some shuriken and kunai at him which were easily deflected away by his sword. Inwardly cursing, she quickly used some hand-seals, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Skill: Grand Fireball Technique)!!!" and shot off a giant fireball.

The crowd 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the pretty sight, as the fireball hit the exact location where Ranma landed, at precisely the same time. The explosion caused him to roughly hit the ground but the moment he did, his body 'poofed' into smoke.

'What the hell? Kage-Bunshin?!?!' Haruko thought in surprise, just then she felt something sharp against the back of her neck. Slightly turning her head, she saw Ranma standing behind her holding a kunai, smirking arrogantly. "Your senjutsu (strategy) is amazing. Who would have guessed that you'd aim the attack at the place I was going to land, instead of directly at my body. That was pretty clever of you," He admitted, before sticking out his tongue, "But you still have a long way to go before you can beat me, Kaijuu-chan (Monster)..."

Ranma was interrupted from his gloating when he was forced to roll to the side to avoid a spin-kick that came from behind. He looked back and was surprised to see that it was a second Haruko that attacked him, 'She knows Kage-Bunshin too?'

The real Haruko cutely stomped her feet and roared in anger, "Mou, Ranma-san!!! What's with calling me a Kaijuu, I am not a monster!!!"

He just laughed mockingly, "I'm calling you that from now on 'cause you act like one, and just now you even roared like one, Kaijuu-chan!!!"

She just roared once more and had her clone attack him again, but he quickly ducked under her punch and rammed a kunai in the side of her neck making the clone melt into water. 'What the... this is Mizu-Bunshin,' he realized too late as he found himself surrounded by a hundred water-clones.

"You want a monster, you got her!!!" All the clones hollered at once and immediately started hand-seals, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Skill: Mystical Fire Flowers Technique)!!!" then they let loose several mini-fireballs at the same time. However, just before the thousand fireball-barrage could hit Ranma, a circular-barrier of water instantly erupted around him and the fireballs were harmlessly extinguished.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Skill: Water Barrier Wall)," Ranma calmly stated, before he quickly expanded the barrier to destroy all the clones surrounding him. Haruko flew back from the pressure of the water and tumbled on the ground, "Ugh..." she painfully looked back to see the water disperse and Ranma walking towards her.

"Now normally this defensive-jutsu can't be done without a large source of water around but I found a way around that limitation." He started saying before stopping in front of her, "Also a person shouldn't be able to increase the size of the barrier or use it as an attack, but I found a way to overcome those restrictions too." Ranma then bent down and extended his hand to help her up. However, she used a crescent-kick (half-circle motion), from her position on the floor, to try and hit him in the head but he just hopped backwards to avoid it.

Haruko swiftly jumped back to her feet and got into a strange fighting stance. 'No, it can't be...!!!' Ranma thought as his eyes widened in shock, then he quickly ran towards her and roughly punched her in the stomach, immediately knocking her out. He looked down at her unconscious body with some newfound respect in his eyes, 'To think that at such a young age, she knows how to use that jutsu...'

Suddenly, Ranma felt a shiver down his back and looked around to see that the crowd was glaring at him with cold eyes, 'Oops, I forgot they were still here.' He tried to explain his harsh actions, but everyone just ignored him and walked away in disgust muttering about him being a cold-hearted bastard. He bowed his head and sighed exasperatedly, 'Geez, they didn't even give me a chance to explain,' he looked up to see Natsumi pick Haruko up and lay her down on the bench.

"Ranma-dono, would you care to explain why you just treated Haruko-chan like she was a punching bag?" Natsumi angrily asked, as she put a wet towel on the girl's head.

Ranma just rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and shame, "I didn't mean to hit her that hard. I just saw her about to do something that would have been overkill for a sparring session." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, obviously interested. "That stance she was just in..." He softly said, "She was getting ready to use a very high-level jounin technique that only a few people I know can do."

Natsumi was definitely intrigued now, "Oh, and who are these people?" she curiously wondered. Ranma sat down next to the bench and gazed at the girl next to him, "There were only four people, Hokage-jiichan, Gai-san, Kakashi-sempai, and me," he then took the towel and gently rubbed it on her head, "But I guess the number's been increased to five now."

Ranma's expression became serious and he turned his attention back to Natsumi, "For her to be able to use this jutsu means that she isn't your average girl......"

After a half an hour, Haruko finally woke up and saw her friends standing nearby, eating mochi. "Hey, I want some too!" she yelled out annoyed, as she walked over and grabbed a rice-cake. Then she leaned on a lamp pole, and was about to take a huge bite out of it when she noticed Ranma and Natsumi looking at her curiously, "What's wrong, I got something on my face?" she asked.

They looked at each other for a second before turning back to her, "Haruko-chan, that last technique you were about to do, where did you learn it?" Ranma politely asked. She thought about it for a while before answering, "I'm not sure, I learned that jutsu when I was really young, so I can't really remember where I picked it up." Then Haruko finished off her mochi in a few bites and took another one before looking at them again, "Why do you ask?"

Ranma shook his head and waved the question away, "Oh no reason, I was just curious." He just continued to eat his snack and watched the two girls talk to each other. 'Unreal, she learned that jutsu when she was younger...?! Even if she had the Sharingan, to be able to use this jutsu is nearly impossible without the proper training.'

'Now that I think about it...' His eyes widened when he realized another strange thing about the fight, '...She was actually able to use a Katon-jutsu with her water clones too. Mizu-Bunshins should only be able to use Suiton-jutsus because of their genetic structure, but she somehow overcame that weakness.' He inwardly smirked and chuckled, '...I think I found an interesting new egg.'

An hour later, they stopped by a local town to get some rest. Haruko was happily eating the rest of the dango (sweet dumplings on a stick) they bought earlier at the snack stand, Natsumi was reading some pamphlets she picked up near the entrance, and they were both sitting down in a nice restaurant enjoying themselves. Ranma on the other hand... well, he was doing something 'productive' and 'essential' as he liked to call it...

"Come on!!!" Ranma begged, "Please, please!!! Give me triple-7s!!!"

... He was gambling. Well, what do you expect, he was partly raised by Tsunade!!!!!!

Unfortunately when it came to gambling, his luck was nearly as bad as his Tsunade-chama's. So the slot-machine just gave him different reels every time, "Oh come on, you stupid machine," Ranma angrily muttered before roughly kicking it. Because of the extra force, hundreds of 10,000-Ryou coins started to pour out of the slots.

"Bwahahahaha!!!" Ranma started laughing like a maniac, and gathered all the coins into a large pouch, "I'm rich, I'm rich!!! I always did have the best luck!!!" While he was too busy celebrating, he didn't notice three big men in suits walk up to him until one of them cleared their throat. He cautiously looked up and nervously chuckled when he saw them, "Hey, I earned these fair and square!!!" he told them, while tightly hugging the bag to his chest.

Then two of the men grabbed his arms and picked him up, "I'm sorry sir, but we're going to have to ask you to leave, we don't want trouble," said the third man while putting out his hand, "And please leave the bag here." Ranma just grumbled under his breath about injustice and handed over his coin pouch, "Fine, I'll leave peacefully..." When the guards put him down, he brushed off his clothes and calmly walked towards the exit. Once outside, he took out the same pouch from inside his jacket and deviously smirked, "...But I'm not leaving empty handed. Heh, I'm sure they won't miss a few hundred coins." Just then he heard some angry shouting from inside and quickly ran away as the three-stooges came charging out.

A few hours later, he was hiding out in a local bar from the goon squad who was still searching for him. "Hehehe, it's not like I really stole these, I bet that casino ripped off innocent people for this money anyway," he quietly reassured himself while tossing the pouch up-and-down on his hand and drinking the rest of his milk.

Just then three snobbish men walked in, normally he would ignore jerks like these, but they were having a very interesting conversation. "You know, I heard that the Densetsu no Kamo (The Legendary Sucker) is in town," the first man said. Ranma's ears perked at hearing this, 'Legendary Sucker?' he suspiciously thought.

"Oh yeah, she stopped by my gambling house earlier," The second man started to laugh, "Damn, the rumors were true about her. She really does have the worst luck in the world, she lost every single ryou she had in just one game!!!"

Ranma just shook his head, paid for his Moo-Moo Milk, and got up to leave. 'Nah, it can't be her...' Just before he stepped out of the exit though, the third man confirmed his suspicions, "You think for being one of the Legendary Three of Konoha, she'd have better luck."

He froze right then and there, "...Tsunade-chama?" he whispered in disbelief. Then Ranma made his way back towards the three men, "Excuse me, do you know where that woman is now?"

The gambling-owners just took one look at Ranma, before scoffing and turning back to their conversation. Ranma just sighed annoyed, 'Geez, I suppose we have to do things the hard way...' he mused, then he took out his pouch and picked out 20 coins before lightly tossing them on the counter.

"That's two-hundred thousand ryou right there..." Ranma muttered, rolling his eyes at their glazed eyes and hungry expressions, "Now, where's Tsunade?"

However, the men just ignored him and greedily stared at the money bag. "How about a little wager, young man?" one of the men suggested, as he took out a pair of dice, "If we win, then you'll give us all the money in that pouch."

Ranma looked at them with questioning eyes, "How 'bout if I win?" They just replied by laughing hysterically. As the men were rolling on the floor, his right eye began to tick dangerously as he slowly reached for his sword. One of them stopped laughing long enough to tell him the rest of the stipulation, "Alright, alright, if you win then we'll tell you all the information you want and give you back your 200,000 ryou. As a bonus we'll each give you the same amount, so that'll be a 600,000 ryou profit for you."

Ranma confidently smirked and agreed to their terms. The man asked the bartender for an empty cup, put the dice in, and shook it before putting it down lid-first. "Now Chou (Even) or Han (Odd)?" he asked, then Ranma closed his eyes and thought about it for a few seconds before he answered with, "Chou."

When the man started to lift the cup up , Ranma saw through the small crack that it was a four and a one. 'Dammit, that's Han!!!' He had to think fast, just then he quickly flicked a shuriken at the wall causing all three men to turn around at the loud 'thunk' sound, then he strongly blew on one of the dice forcing it to turn over.

He just whistled innocently when they suspiciously looked back to him, before the man completely lifted the cup up and saw that it was a four and a two. "Awww... how unfortunate for you guys," Ranma mocked as the men grumbled and one of them wrote down the information about Tsunade. He saw that they were about to leave without paying him and quickly threw a kunai at the doorway, making them jump up in fright. "Hey, what about my money?" He irritably asked before they reluctantly took out the necessary amount in bills and handed it over to him.

"Whew," he breathed out in relief, the moment they left, "That was close, I nearly blew it back there." Ranma turned to the bartender and laid some coins down on the counter, "Sorry for the damage, I'm sure that'll be enough to cover the repairs."

He read the directions that was written on the paper, and soon made his way towards one of the fancier hotels of the town. 'How can she afford to stay here? From what I heard at the bar, she lost nearly all her cash...' he confusedly thought, before walking up to the front desk. Just as he was getting ready to ring the bell, a clerk suddenly popped out from behind the counter, "Hello, my name is Akira... how may I help you?" The man had dark brown hair with light brown streaks, purple eyes, and wore yellow goggles around his forehead.

Ranma curiously looked around the front desk and asked the question just begging to be asked, "Where did you just come from?" The clerk politely smiled and shrugged, "Where do we all come from in life, sir?" he countered. "Ummm... our mommies' stomachs?" Ranma tentatively replied, then shook his head, "Wait, what the hell am I saying. Hey, I was just wondering if you could help me find someone staying in this hotel."

Akira just nodded, "Of course, I'll be happy to help. If you could show me a picture or something to identify them by." Ranma just took out his horsey wallet, and flipped around before showing him a picture. "I'm looking for this lady..." Ranma was confused when the man suddenly backed away with a horrified look on his face, "... what's wrong with you?"

"Tha... that's the Densetsu no Kamo, she came in a few days ago and demanded a room..." Akira stuttered out. Ranma just raised an eyebrow, even more confused than before, "Yeah, what's so odd about that?" The man just started to cry at the scary memory, "...But when we told her that payment must be made up front, she nearly tore the place down in a fit of anger. After that, we just gave her the best suite in the place," At this point, he was bawling his eyes out like a little baby, while sucking his thumb.

Ranma just sweatdropped at the sight, and palmed his face in exasperation. "Oh god, no wonder she could stay here. She scared these people into giving her a room!!!" He grumbled to himself, "I always wondered where kaa-chan got her mean side from."

Just then a loud voice echoed throughout the hotel, "I'm telling you Shizune, those bastards rigged that entire place!!! There's no way I could have lost in every single game!!!" Ranma turned around to see a beautiful blond-haired woman, with anger marks on her face, stomping towards the front desk. Slightly behind her was a timid cute black-haired girl, holding a pig in her arms. Apparently the cute girl was trying to calm the beautiful woman down, unsuccessfully by the looks of it.

"Those damn pricks, if I ever see them again, I'll tear them a......" Tsunade trailed off from her angry rant when she laid eyes on a certain young boy. 'Those eyes?' she curiously thought as silence loomed over them for a couple of minutes until Ranma tentatively broke it, "Tsu-Tsunade-chama?"

"Oh my god..." Tsunade mumbled into her hand, with tears running down her face. Then she quickly ran towards him, and tightly squeezed him to her chest, "Ranma-chan!!!!!!" Despite being at the brink of suffocation, he slowly hugged her back and mumbled about how much he missed her. "I missed you too, so much," She whispered into his ear while kissing the top of his head.

"Ano, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune said after about fifteen minutes, and tap her on the shoulder, "I think you might want to ease up on your hug, the boy's gone limp." Tsunade looked down and confirmed this, then began to panic, "Oh my god, Ranma-chan!!! Wake up!!!" She furiously shook his body in hopes of waking him up, but stopped when a light-bulb lit up over her head.

She slowly lowered her lips over his but just before they made contact, Ranma opened his eyes, which widened considerably, and quickly jumped out of her arms. "Oi, Tsunade-chama!!! What were you about to do!!!" He shouted at the flustered woman who had a momentary lapse of amnesia. "Ummm... you see," Tsunade stuttered out, "Oh yeah, I was just going to give you CPR!!!"

"What were you thinking, you naughty boy?" She taunted, with a smug look on her face. Then she giggled when she saw him blush, before quickly hugging him again. "Ranma-chan..." She softly said, holding him out at arm's length to take a good look at him, "Oh my, you've definitely grown up to be a handsome man just like your father. Maybe even more so..."

Tsunade started to fondle different parts of his body, some of which made him blush heavily, and she was enjoying herself until a loud cough interrupted her. She turned around and saw Shizune with an expectant look on her face, then her own face just morphed into annoyance before she chose to ignore her assistant.

"Just what are you doing here Ranma-chan?" she questioned, while leading the boy over to the elevators, away from her bothersome assistant, "This place is pretty far away from Konoha, I'm sure your kaa-chan must be worried by now..."

Shizune just puffed up her cheeks, irritated that her master wasn't going to introduce her to the cute boy. 'He looks awfully familiar,' she thought to herself, before shrugging and chasing after them, 'Oh well, I'll figure it out later.' Unfortunately, she wasn't able to reach the elevators in time and the doors closed right in her face. She cursed under her breath, and looked at the long stairway dejectedly.

As Shizune started making her long journey up the stairs, the front clerk Akira got up from the floor and leaned on the desk with an annoyed look. "Dammit..." He quietly swore to himself before taking out a radio transmitter. "Gin, it's me..." he quietly spoke into the receiver, "Tsunade and her assistant are back, but there's been a change of plans. Tell the boys not to come, that I'll take care of everything."

Akira listened to the response before sighing exasperatedly. "Don't worry about me so much, just make sure that nobody else finds out about this," he harshly whispered before cutting off the connection. Then he looked up at the ceiling and licked his lips, "Now I just need to bide my time."

...Ranma sighed sadly at her question, "It's a really long story, Tsunade-chama," he quietly said. Tsunade looked at him worryingly, before she hugged his shoulder and kissed his cheek, "Don't worry Ranma-chan, we'll have plenty of time to catch up." When they got to her floor, she fished into her pockets to get her keys. After a few minutes, frustration started to build up because she still couldn't find them. "Shizune!!!" she screamed, just as the girl finally got to their floor, exhausted from the long run up.

'Why did we have to be on the highest floor?' Shizune tiredly thought, before she blacked out. Tsunade walked up to the unconscious girl and reached into her pockets to get her set of keys, then walked back and opened the door. Two hours later, at Ranma's insistent requests, Tsunade finally walked back out and picked the girl up over her shoulder before going back in, 'Awww... I was hoping to have Ranma-chan all to myself,' she gloomily thought and pouted.

Tsunade put Shizune down on one of the beds, then took off some of her heavy clothes and pulled the covers over her. Afterwards she changed into something comfortable herself, before sitting back down next to Ranma, "So, the entire Uchiha Clan were killed off except for two people," Tsunade recapped what he told her earlier, "I'm sorry to hear that. This Itachi brat must be pretty strong if he managed to accomplish that in just one night."

Ranma just laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I guess he is. But that's not the reason I'm here, I'm not here just to get stronger or to get revenge," he determinedly whispered, "I'm here to get some answers from that guy, my business with him is far from over."

Tsunade just looked at him proudly, before exaggeratedly yawning and stretching her arms. "Well, it's getting late," she stated before laying down next to him and smirking, "We should get some sleep..."

He nervously eyed her before sitting up and nodding, "Ano, Tsunade-chama if you don't mind I'll just crash on the couch okay?" He was confused and hurt when Tsunade just shook her head, "Eh, I can't stay here?"

She just grinned like a cat, "Now, now I didn't say that..." then lightly pushed him back onto the bed, "...What I meant was that you'll be sleeping on the bed next to me." Tsunade quickly put her finger over his lips to cut off his refusal, "I'm lonely Ranma-chan, it's been a very long time since I've shared a bed with a man so just let me savor this moment..." she whispered into his ear before lightly kissing it, then turned off the lights.

"Good night, my handsome Ranma-chan..." she huskily breathed out, "...Have 'pleasant' dreams," before cuddling with him like he was a teddy bear.

All throughout the night, Ranma just couldn't get any sleep because he could feel every single move Tsunade made against him. 'Oh man...' he thought as the buxom woman unconsciously rubbed her body all over his, '... This is hell."

Hours later, Ranma still wasn't able to sleep and just laid there in Tsunade's arms until they were suddenly lifted away as she woke up, and stretched her arms and back. She then leaned over and gently kissed him on the lips for a few minutes. "Now that's a reason to wake up in the morning!!!" she cheered after letting the shocked boy go, then got up to take her nightgown off.

All the while, a very-red Ranma was just gawking at the nude Tsunade, who was walking around the room, trying on different clothes. 'What the hell, does she even realize I'm still in the room,' he thought incredibly, just then she blew a kiss to him before entering the bathroom, '... Guess she did.'

"What's going on here?" He confusedly whispered as he got out of bed, "One moment I'm having a touching reunion with one of my mentors, the next I've suddenly turned into her lover..." Then he grabbed his head in horrid realization, "Oh man, what are Anko-chan and Kurenai-chan gonna do to me!!! I can't home with a third girlfriend, they'll kill me!!!"

While he was contemplating his doomed fate, a dazed Shizune woke up and hopped off her own bed. Feeling that she stepped on something, she lifted her foot to see that it was a horsey wallet and just stared at it curiously, 'Now why does this look familiar?' she thought before looking over at Ranma, 'Hey wait...'

She finally made the connection and yelled out in joy, "You're Arashi-san and Noriko-sempai's son!!!!!"

Ranma jumped up from the sudden shout and looked at her weirdly, "Yeah, and...?" He really had no clue what was going on anymore, and was once again surprised when the girl ran up to him holding his wallet and shoved it in his face. "Don't you remember me, I'm the one who gave you this!!!" Shizune pointed out, rather cheerfully.

After a few minutes he finally seemed to remember, "Hey...!!!" She started to smile, "You were that girl who kept hiding from me!!!" Then she facefaulted and slowly nodded from her position on the floor. He knelt down to take a closer look at her, "What was your name again?" Ranma asked as he helped her up. "Shizune, it's Shizune," she told him as she was heading towards the bathroom, "And don't worry handsome, I already know your name."

Ranma just stood there awkwardly, "Handsome...?" he wondered if his life had just gotten better or worse......

While the ladies were doing their girly things in the bathroom, Ranma decided to wait for them downstairs and took the elevators. When he reached the lounge floor, he walked up to the front desk and rang the bell, "Hello, is anyone here?" After a few minutes of no response, Ranma noticed something strange as he looked around. "Where is everyone?" he wondered, "I know it's early in the morning, but there should still be some people around."

Just then the front desk exploded into thousands of pieces, "Gah!!!" Ranma screamed as the blast sent him sailing across the lobby. "Wha..." His arms shook as he struggled to get back up, "What the hell happened?" he moaned out.

"I happened!" Ranma slowly lifted his head to see Akira standing in front of him wearing a blue trench coat and a katana on his lower back. "You..." he quietly said as he shakily stood on his feet, "Who are you?"

In response, Akira opened up his trench coat to reveal a Kumogakure Hitai-ate around the side of his waist, "You're a Lightning-Ninja?" Akira started to nod in confirmation, but then tapped his chin as if thinking, "Actually, I'm sorta a nekunin (missing-nin). I was taken away from that pathetic village as a child, and was raised by... well, you don't need to know my whole life story."

He walked up to Ranma, who was leaning against the wall breathing heavily, and spun a kunai around his finger. "This was supposed to be an easy job..." Akira started to say, and he grasped the kunai firmly in his hand, "Eliminate Tsunade, and gain instant fame and glory. The reputation of my family sky-rockets and everyone in the world knows our name."

Akira just glared at him when Ranma started chuckling, "What's so funny?" he asked impatiently. "You are..." Then Ranma quickly grabbed the lightning-ninja by his throat, turned around and slammed him into the wall, "You're an idiot if you really thought that killing Tsunade-chama was going to be easy."

"Ho... How?" Akira choked out, as Ranma cracked his neck to get some kinks out. "What? You mean how am I moving so easily after that explosion?" The leaf-nin asked, "Well, while you were busy talking and strutting, I was busy healing myself. It was pretty easy, since the injuries weren't that bad..."

Akira just gritted his teeth in anger, and threw his kunai at Ranma's foot which was hastily moved at the last second. He tried to head-butt him, only to have Ranma block it with his hand. Then he tried to punch him, only to have it caught with that same hand. Finally he lost his patience, and the kumo-nin just spitted in his eye which forced the young prodigy to let him go.

As Ranma was rubbing his eye and shaking his head trying to get the pain to recede, Akira swiftly high-kicked him across his jaw, hurtling him into the opposite wall. He then threw several shurikens towards the trapped ninja only to have them deflected away with a kunai... wait a minute...?!

'Where did he get that weapon?' Akira thought in shock, then his eyes widen in realization and he glanced down behind him and saw the kunai that was imbedded in the floor was missing. 'Unbelievable,' as he saw Ranma slowly get out of the hole, 'He took out my kunai... but how?!?!'

"Whew..." Ranma sighed out, and smiled in relief, "That was close, you almost got me there." He started twirling the kunai in between his fingers, "Lucky for me, I managed to grab this thing with my toes otherwise I might have gotten hurt." Just to mock the guy, he wiggled said toes a little before quickly throwing the kunai at the stunned ninja, which 'poofed' into hundreds of kunai.

As Akira quickly jumped up to dodge the shower of weapons, Ranma met him half-way in the air and dragon-kicked him across the chest, sending him straight through the ceiling. Then he started on some hand-seals while falling down, "Fuuton: Kamaitachi (Wind Skill: Slashing Wind)!!!" and expelled an enormous gust of wind from his mouth. The wind entered the hole, and tore through Akira's body creating several cuts and lacerations around his body. Unfortunately, the hurricane was too powerful and it continued to tear apart the entire ceiling causing it to collapse in.

The expulsion of air gave Ranma an extra push, so he reached the ground instantly, letting him see everything that took place. "Uh-oh, I think I'm in big trouble..." He quietly let out, as he watched the beautiful hotel lounge quickly become rubble. "Ouch..." He then blinked several times as Akira's body harshly hit the floor, "That had to hurt." He winced as a giant piece of the ceiling fell down on the kumo-nin and his feet, the only part visible, started twitching in pain, "...oh, that had to hurt even more."

He clap his hands twice then clasped them together, and closed his eyes. 'I am so sorry, Kami-sama...' Ranma silently apologized, 'I promise I won't do this again...... maybe.'

When he heard a groan, Ranma opened his eyes in surprise and watched as Akira pushed the giant rock off of him and slowly get back up. "Wow, you're pretty persistent aren't you?" He asked the battered and bruised man, who was dragging his feet towards him, "Not too many others I know would want to continue a pointless fight like this after getting hurt as badly as you, they're not that stupid."

Akira just sneered and tried to say something... key word, tried. "Oi, are you okay?" Ranma asked him a few minutes later, a little worried when the man just stood there with his mouth wide open. Then he cautiously poked the nekunin on his forehead, making him fall backwards, completely knocked out.

"I guess his body couldn't take all that pain after all," Ranma drawled, then the doors bursted open and several ninjas jumped in, landed near the unconscious Akira before picking him up and quickly disappearing. "Who were all those guys...?" He then quickly reached back to grab a kunai before it imbedded itself in the back of his head, and flicked it back to deflect a second one in mid-air. "...More importantly, who the hell are you?" He snarled out, as he turned around to confront his assailant.

In front of him was a young man, wearing a Japanese school uniform and his Hitai-ate wrapped around his left arm. He had light blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bland expression. "No need to worry about introductions now..." the boy quietly said, "You and I are sure to meet again, since I doubt that Akira-niisan will let things end like this." Then he dropped a smoke-bomb on the floor and thick smoke slowly enveloped him.

"Wait...!!!" Ranma protested, "That guy's your brother?! What do you people want?!?!"

"Everything will come to light soon..." he stated before disappearing within the smoke. Ranma just stared at the spot the boy was standing in with a blank expression, then nervously looked around the destroyed hotel. "The least you bastards could have done is pay for this mess," he bitterly muttered, before something hard hit the back of his head. "Ow, son of a..." He rubbed his head and looked down to see a wad of money and a scroll at his feet, "Did you have to throw it at my head though?"

"Ah well, guess I shouldn't be complaining," He counted the money and pocketed it, then opened the scroll. "Let's see what this says, I apologize for all the damage, this should be enough to cover everything, signed Gin," Ranma read outloud, "So his name is Gin, oh wait there's something more. P.S. You are an idiot, just like my brother. Here is a list of insults and snide remarks I've compiled and will be referring to you as in the near future. Brainless Boob, Ignorant Cretin, Mentally Challenged Dumbass........."

Ranma unraveled the rest of the scroll which dropped to the floor, forming a small pile at his feet. His left eye began to rapidly twitch in irritation. "That little brat," He darkly muttered, "I'm gonna teach him a lesson in respecting his elders."

He set the scroll on fire with flick of his thumb, and looked towards the stairway to see Tsunade and Shizune rushing down in worry. "What the hell happened?!?!?!" Tsunade screamed as she ran over and checked on Ranma, "Are you hurt, Ranma-chan?" He just shook his head, "No, I'm just fine." He then looked at them in confusion, "But why did you take the stairs, wouldn't it have been easier to take the..." He looked over at the elevators to see that it got crushed among the debris, "Oops..."

"MY HOTEL!!!" The manager shouted in horror as he came through the entrance, then he angrily walked over to the dirtied young ninja, "YOU!!! Just what did you do to my beautiful hotel!!!!!!"

"Hehehe..." Ranma laughed nervously, before bowing several times in apology. "I'm so sorry!!! It was all an accident, a very big accident," Then he took out the wad of cash from before, "But I've got the necessary amount to pay for all the damages."

The manager just grabbed the money, and silently counted it. "Alright this should be enough," he grumbled, "But I'm afraid that you and the rest of your hooligan friends will have to leave, Tsunade-sama. I knew letting you stay here would be a very bad idea"

Tsunade was about to protest, when Ranma quickly cut her off by putting his hand over her mouth. "We understand, we were just leaving anyway," He told her while looking directly into her eyes, "Believe me, its time to take off now..." She got the silent message, and reluctantly nodded.

Then the three started walking towards the front door, except for one problem... "Where's your luggage, Tsunade-chama?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, those fancy clothes weren't ours, Ranma-kun," Shizune intervened, "The hotel just gave those to us to stop Tsunade-sama from stomping around..." Then she nervously gulped and averted her eyes, when Tsunade turned to glare at her. "Really? Is that true?" Ranma further inquired, but Shizune just squeaked 'never mind' as her mentor's eyes promised much pain if she continued.

"Oh wait..." Tsunade stopped and snapped her fingers, "I forgot something back at the hotel, I'll catch up with you two later." The two young ninjas just nodded before walking off. As soon as they were gone, her eyes narrowed as she stomped back to the hotel. 'Kick me out, will you, ya pudgy bastard?!' Tsunade angrily thought, 'Nobody treats me like that!' then she slammed her fist into the doorway causing the entire wall to break apart and collapse. She grinned satisfied at the shriek of terror from inside and happily skipped away. Who needed aroma therapy and spa baths to relax when you can just terrorize idiots like that hotel manager, '... and kissing Ranma-chan too, that's certainly relaxing,' She giddily thought.

A while later, the three met up again and were about to walk towards a restaurant, only to be met by an angry Hyuuga and a yawning Uchiha. "There you are, Ranma-dono!!!" Natsumi shouted as she caught sight of him, "Just where in Konoha have you been?!?! We spent all day yesterday searching for you before checking into a motel."

At that moment, she felt a tug on her shirt and looked down at Haruko, "What?" She followed her finger as the girl tiredly pointed at something. Finally noticing his two companions, she just looked at them suspiciously, "Who are they?" she questioned.

Ranma just bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "Oh this is Tsuna..." His introduction was cut off when Tsunade covered his mouth with her hand and pinched his arm, "...mi!!! The name's Tsunami, and this is my niece Shizumo," pointing at the smiling Shizune who just waved at the girls.

Tsunade then leaned over and whispered into the boy's ear, "Ranma-chan, I don't want anyone from Konoha to know who I am, so just play along okay?" He just slowly nodded while rubbing his arm in pain, damn her freakishly inhuman strength!

The group of ladies and one man walked over to a nearby bistro to have some breakfast. Once they were all seated and received their meals, Natsumi began to ask 'Tsunami' questions, "So futari-dono, where are you from?"

'Tsunami' silently drank her coffee before answering, "We're from the Taki no Kuni (Land of the Waterfall), and we just came here for a nice relaxing vacation..." Then discreetly glanced at Ranma through the corner of her eye, "... and to have a good time."

Natsumi, who caught the look, just glared at her before nodding. "Is it true what they say about your land's hidden village...?" She suddenly asked after taking a bite out of her omelet, while everyone else looked at her in curiosity, "...That Takigakure no Sato (Hidden Waterfall Village) is home to an ancient Amazon-tribe?"

'Shizumo' answered the question for her 'aunt,' "Those are nothing but rumors, no substantial evidence has been found to prove that this Amazon-tribe ever existed," She paused to eat her waffles, "The only known fact about that village is the Hero's Water."

Haruko inquisitively looked up from her chocolate-chip pancakes, "Hero's Water, what's that?"

Ranma finished off his ultimate deluxe-breakfast (the whole menu) and leaned against his chair, "Well, the only reason they even bothered to put that backwater village on the map was because of this magic-water. One of its previous leaders extracted a special type of liquid from these trees grown in hot springs and processed it into the Hero's Water, which gives the user ten times his natural power..."

The young girl just looked at him with wide eyes, entranced with what he said, "Wow, so why isn't everyone in that village like supermen or something?" That magic water sounded so cool, maybe she could get some......

"It's because the properties of the water are terribly unstable and causes the person to shortly die after drinking it," 'Tsunami' told her, after she ate her breakfast sandwich. Haruko just grimaced and pouted, there went her idea of becoming a Supergirl.

Daintily wiping her mouth with a napkin, 'Tsunami' turned her attention back to the pigtailed-ninja. "So, Ranma-chan, you don't know anything about that ninja who blew up the hotel?"

He just shook his head, "Nope, all I know was that he wanted to kill you, other than that... well there might have been more but I had to beat him up."

"Assassins, how quaint..." 'Tsunami' dully replied, before kissing him on the cheek, "Oh well, I'm just glad you were there to protect me, my chivalrous knight."

Ranma just blushed then straightening up as Natsumi glared at him, and leaned his elbows on the table, "It's no problem, 'Tsunami-san.' In any case, we should be leaving now if we want to reach Kirigakure no Sato (Hidden Mist Village) in time..."

"Kirigakure?" 'Tsunami' curiously asked, "Why are you going there?"

"Oh, I just want to visit some old friends of mine," He replied, "... and maybe get some information." He got out his wallet to pay for the meal, when he noticed that it felt lighter. "Huh?" He checked the contents to see that the money he won from those gambling-owners was missing, "What the hell, someone robbed me, but how...?"

"Wait a sec," Ranma's eyes widened as he remembered the amount of money given to the hotel manager, "600,000 Ryou... 600,000!!!" Then he slammed his fist on the table, "That freakin' brat, he took my money to pay for the hotel's damages!!!!!!"

A couple of minutes later after the boy had calmed down, everyone was standing outside ready to part ways. "Please, excuse us," Tsunade then grabbed Ranma's hand and dragged him away from hearing distance from his partners. "Ranma-chan, please don't tell them who I am until after I'm long gone," She quietly whispered, "If word gets back to the village that I'm nearby then Sarutobi-sensei might send someone out to get me."

Ranma just looked her confused, "What's so bad about that? You'd get to see 'kaa-chan again." Tsunade smiled at that prospect before it slowly melted off, and she sadly shook her head. "No, I'm never going back to that village, no matter what..." she firmly declared.

"Why not?" He angrily muttered, "I don't understand, if you want to see 'kaa-chan or go back home, you should just do it. What's so hard about it?"

Tsunade just bowed her head and sniffled, "Why in the hell would I want to go back to a heartless village that let a 5-year old baby go off to war," she grumbled under her breath.

Now it all came together and he got a look of understanding, before quickly hugged the crying woman. "Oh Tsunade-chama, times were really different back then. Jiji didn't have any choice..." He gently lifted her face with his hand and wiped her tears off, "...besides I remember wanting to go. In fact the whole reason he even allowed it was because I begged him."

Tsunade just tightly held him for awhile, he shivered when she nuzzled his cheek and purred like a kitten. "I don't care, I'm not going back..." she kissed him on the lips once more, before letting go and walking away. After a few steps, she stopped to look back, "... not yet anyway. I'm just not ready to face those people yet," she softly said.

Then she blew a kiss towards him and winked, "Besides what's the point of me going back now when my favorite little man isn't even going to be there," She playfully said before teleporting away. "Ano... Ra-Ranma-kun," Shizune stuttered as she walked up to him and gently kissed him the lips as well, then she looked away embarrassed and quickly disappeared after her master.

Ranma could only stare at the spot the women were standing in with a dazed look, before lightly touching his lips. He was brought back to reality when Natsumi came up to him and poked him in the cheek, "Ranma-dono, do you mind telling us who those women really were?"

He just put his hands in his pockets and started to walk, "I'll tell you girls later..." Then his eyes suddenly widened in shock, and he grabbed their hands and quickly made a break for it, "...Right now let's just get out of here!!!" Behind them were around 15 men in suits in hot pursuit.

An hour later, they finally lost the casino-bodyguards and were resting on the ground. "I can't believe you Ranma-dono, you actually resorted to petty theft," Natsumi accused him, while Haruko just glared at him. He just waved his hands in denial, "It wasn't theft!!!" he protested indignantly, "They stole my money first, it's only fitting that I take back what I lost, and whatever extra I got was to compensate for my wasted time."

'It's true, why else would they make machines that only accepted 10,000-Ryou coins!!! They had to have rigged it,' Ranma sulkily thought to himself, before lying down on the ground and closing his eyes. "Bah, I don't care what you girls think anyway, I'm going to take a nap now since I didn't get much sleep last night," A minute later, a light snore could be heard from him.

Natsumi just looked at his sleeping form suspiciously, 'What did he mean by no sleep last night,' Then images of those two women flashed in her mind and she blushed heavily, 'Could it be that he spent all night... with those women... doing that?!?!'

Haruko was wondering why the girl beside her was currently glowing red, when all of a sudden smoke filled the entire area. Then she felt herself being pulled towards the ground, and looked next to her to see Natsumi holding her wrist. The Hyuuga prodigy just put her finger to her lips, signifying to 'be quiet,' before she got up and spun around like top blowing the smoke away.

When it cleared, both girls saw two men in front of them, each of them resembling Ranma's description of the ninjas back at the hotel. 'So these are the guys that attacked Ranma-dono...' Natsumi thought, when the taller one snapped his fingers and several other figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

'Now this...' Natsumi and Haruko stood back-to-back, slowly looking around, '... he neglected to mention.' Just then Akira's eyes widen in shock and disgust, and he quickly made his way towards them and angrily wagged his finger, "You girls should be ashamed of yourselves!!!"

'What's his problem?' Both girls thought in surprise and sweatdropped as he pointed to Natsumi. "You!!! How could you wear such revealing clothing, I mean what the hell's wrong with your kimono!!! The dress part isn't supposed to be a mini-skirt, your slender legs shouldn't be showing!!! Don't you have any decency?!?!" He bellowed with disdain, then pointed to Haruko, "You're just as bad, what are you, 6?! A girl your age shouldn't be wearing a tanktop and short pants!!! What is this generation coming to?!?! Are the both of you trying to become call-girls or something?!?!?!"

Before either girl could use their womanly anger on the idiotic shy-boy, a sheath slammed onto Akira's head, knocking him out. Behind him was Gin holding his katana, and he bowed in apology, "Sorry for my brother, he's just a shy prude when it comes to girls."

"Onee-sama (older sister) always did tell me that it's polite to introduce yourself first. My name's Gin," he told them, then pointed to the unconscious idiot, "And that moron over there is my older brother, Akira. We don't have any family names though, we got rid of those mundane things a long time ago."

Then Gin pointed to each of the other ninjas and introduced them by name, "... and all these guys are our little brothers." He waved his hand to cut off any questions, "I know, I know, how can they be our little brothers when they're older than us. Ummm... you know how in mafias and syndicates, people lower than you in status are considered your little brothers..."

He paused at hearing a loud scoff, and turned around to see Akira slowly getting up, rubbing his head. "Don't listen to him, we're not some petty organization, we're a family. Hell, we're even closer than that, you lewd girls have no idea what we would do for each other," Akira stopped talking when he heard clapping and looked back to see Ranma sitting up, crying and sniffling.

"That was so beautiful," Ranma whispered, and blew his nose into a handkerchief, "It's so touching to see someone take the values of family to heart." Then he jumped back to his feet and silently mumbled to himself while pointing at each person, "About 21 in all," He quietly said, "Hey, that's blackjack!!!" Even at this time, his mind was still on gambling.

"While your speech was heart-warming and all, you didn't have to insult my fri..." Ranma cut himself off when he saw Gin, "Hey you!!! You damn pipsqueak, you owe me 600,000 Ryou!!!"

"No, I don't," Gin calmly retorted, "That money technically didn't belong to you in the first place. Besides you were the one who created the majority of the damages back at the hotel, so why should it be our responsibility to pay?"

Ranma blinked several times in wonderment and just looked over at Natsumi and Haruko. "Well, I can't really argue with that, since he does have a point," he shrugged, causing the girls to facefault. After all his complaining back at the restaurant, he was just going to let the matter go so easily...

"It seems I was wrong about you," Gin quietly told him, "You're even dumber than my brother."

Before Ranma could retort, Akira interrupted by taking out his katana and pointing it at him, "Alright that's enough, it's because of you that we lost the chance of a lifetime, so consider this our divine retribution. Don't worry though, I promise that your journey to hell will be short and sweet." He took several steps forward, but stopped when he saw that he was the only one walking, "Hey, what are you guys doing!!!" He shouted back at the others, "You're supposed to be helping me!!!"

Gin just looked as emotionless as ever, "This whole thing was your stupid idea, 'Nii-san. I don't see why we should get involved any more than we already have." Akira just fumed as he sheathed his sword, before the boy continued talking, "Besides this will give you a good chance to make some new friends, since you're usually so shy. Maybe this time you'll talk normally to one of those girls before you faint."

The other ninjas snickered as Akira turned red in embarrassment, "Shut up, you stupid morons!!!" He turned around to see that Ranma laughing as well while the girls were quietly giggling, "And you guys have no right to be laughing at me!!!" Then he threw several shurikens at Ranma which he quickly dodged by bending his upper body to the side, but then Akira rushed forward and delivered a massive knee-blow to his face, sending him skidding across the ground.

Turning his body, Akira quickly tripped up Natsumi by performing a low spin-kick, then spun around to kick her in the chest with the same foot. Immediately after, he head-butted Haruko in the side of her head, punched her in the stomach, rammed his elbow in the back of her neck, and then grabbed the back of her shirt to throw her into the air. "Raiton: Raikarada no Jutsu (Lightning Type: Lightning Body Technique)!!!" he yelled out as lightning covered his entire body, and he started to glow blue and crackle with electricity.

He then shot himself into the sky, towards the still-airborne Haruko, when a sudden kick to the head sent him straight back to the ground. His body went tumbling across the ground a few times, before he lost his electric glow and slowly looked up to see Ranma holding Haruko in his arms, gently putting her down on the floor.

Akira got the shock of his life when Ranma looked towards him with glowing red-eyes, 'What the hell is wrong with his eyes?!?!' He took a small step back, slightly intimidated. Ranma then disappeared and reappeared in front of a surprised Akira, and roughly shoved his foot into his gut, causing his body to fold up.

"Gah..." Akira moaned out, as he doubled over and puked his lunch out, "Wha... what the hell..." Just then, Ranma grabbed him by the back of his neck and picked him up. "This is divine retribution..." He threatened, as he glared with his glowing-eyes, "But you should know that, Akira." Ranma quickly punched him across his cheek, then lightly tossed him into the air before strongly kicking him in his ribs, then grabbed him by his shirt before he went flying, and uppercutted his jaw.

The force of the uppercut sent the kumo-nin straight into the air, where Ranma performed a multiple bicycle-kick across his chest, and sent him straight into the earth, where he made a small crater upon impact.

"Nii-chan!!!" The shinobi yelled out in worry, but Gin stopped them from rushing forward. "Matte (wait)..." He whispered, "Akira-niisan is far from done." At that moment, Akira slowly got up and stumbled towards Ranma, "That's right Gin, this fight isn't over just yet."

Then he shakily pointed at Ranma, who now had Natsumi and Haruko by his side, "You damn asshole..." he harshly said, spitting out some blood, "If it wasn't for you, then everyone would know Kuro-ani's name by now."

'Kuro...?' Ranma silently wondered, then walked towards the beaten nekunin. "Look, I really don't know what's going on, but..." He was cut off when Akira tried to punch him in the face, and dodged it by leaning back. However, he was caught unprepared for the bolt of lightning that shot out of Akira's mouth, and was sent straight through the air.

His body skidded across the ground, before he grabbed the dirt with his fingers to slowly come to a stop. 'That was Raikurai (Lightning Bolt)...' Ranma thought as he grasped his face in pain, then he was knocked away when Akira rammed his shoulder into his chest. Afterwards, Akira attempted a high roundhouse-kick, only to have Ranma duck under it and retaliate by flipping onto his right hand and pivoting on it to perform a bicycle-kick which hit him right in the jaw.

As soon as the man's body hit the floor, Ranma lifted him up by his neck and got right into his face. "Just what do you want?!" He growled out, then grabbed Akira's fist as he tried to punch him again, and harshly head-butted him in the nose. "I'm not going to ask again......" Ranma snarled in a soft but dangerous tone.

Just then, he bent his upper body to the side to avoid a jump spin-kick, but a second kick to the side of his head sent him straight into the dirt. Ranma picked himself up and looked back to see Gin holding Akira in his arms, before handing him over to their little brothers.

"Now Akira-niisan is done," Gin quietly declared, then he got out his own katana and charged the fire-ninja. The next few minutes, Ranma was forced to move and dodge to avoid being cut up by this skilled swordsman. 'This kid is really good with a sword,' He flipped backwards to avoid a slash, 'Too bad for him...' He quickly moved to the side to avoid being stabbed, 'I'm done playing around!!!'

Ranma unsheathed his own katana, and quickly deflected a thrust, then blocked a slash before pushing forward to hold the boy in place. "Now do you mind giving me some answers?" He asked Gin, as they were caught in a stalemate......

"Shouldn't we help him?" Haruko worriedly asked, and Natsumi just shook her head. "No, not yet anyway," She gently smiled, "If there's one thing I've learned during my time with him, it's that Ranma-dono can take care of himself in any situation." She then grumbled in anger, "Besides, his male ego and pride usually ends up resenting me whenever I help him out in a fight."

......Ranma was surprised when Gin freed himself by bending over backwards to the side, then spun his body around and sliced upwards to cut him vertically across the shoulder. The only reason Ranma's arm was still attached was because he narrowly avoided the attack by jumping backwards. 'Dammit...' He thought as he started healing his wound, 'Looks like I underestimated this kid.'

Gin caught a movement in the corner of his eye, and quickly started on hand-seals, "Raikurai (Lightning-Bolt)," and shot off several bolts of lightning from his hand. Ranma flipped to the side to avoid them, only to be caught in mid-air by a hurricane kick which hit him several times in the back.

Painfully hitting the ground, Ranma looked up to see a bloodied Akira, smirking down at him. "Hehehe..." He quietly laughed, "My otouto (little brother) was right, you really are an idiot if you thought normal attacks would put me down."

Akira held up his hand which had electricity crackling around it, "It's all about the jutsus, man," then he clenched it into a fist, completely covering it with lightning. "Raiton: Dai Raiken (Lightning Type: Grand Lightning Fist)!!!" He yelled out just before he punched at the fallen Ranma, only to have him handspring away, so instead Akira hit and completely destroyed the area that he was laying in.

'No way...' Ranma thought as he straighten up and watched Akira pull his fist out of the broken earth, 'Not only does this guy know the different variations of Raikurai, but he also knows Dai Raiken?!' He then watched as Gin walk over and kneel by him, 'And I still don't know what that midget can do...'

"Are you sure you want to do this, Akira-niisan? Your injuries..." Gin quietly asked Akira, who just emitted a tiny laugh. "Quit worrying about me so much," Akira said, "Isn't it the older brother's duty to look out for the younger brother? So quit breaking the rules."

He tried to get back up, but grimaced at the pain. "You're right about one thing though, my injuries might be too much," Akira looked over at Natsumi and Haruko, "So you take care of the buffoon, while I get rid of those girls..."

Gin nodded then quickly ran over to Ranma and swung his sword, which the fire-nin dodged by bending backwards. Seeing an opening, Gin took the chance to trip him up with a low-kick and threw his katana into the air. "Raiton: Buraitou (Lightning Type: Dancing Thunder Blade)," He then formed a blade of lightning around his hand, and slashed at Ranma's chest making a deep cut.

Gin swiftly used a ground-kick, only to have Ranma avoid it by rolling back, and jumped back to his feet by pushing up with his right hand. Ranma then shot himself forward to knee the boy in the ribs, then used a palm-strike at his jaw. "Argh!!!" Gin screamed in pain, before Ranma performed an axe-kick which hit him right in the chest, sending him back-first into the dirt.

"Just what are you going to do now?" Ranma asked the fallen kumo-nin, he just responded by cracking a smile, "What are you smiling about?" Gin just opened his eyes and look towards the sky, "Why don't you see for yourself, you brainless boob." Ranma looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw the kid's katana falling straight down at him, he quickly hopped backwards to avoid it, but couldn't avoid the lightning-blade which pierced his heart. 'This kid...'

"Sorry shameless girls, but we're going to have to get rid of you now," Akira said, before he snapped his fingers and the rest of his family went charging towards them. 'Okay...' he thought as he watched them fight, 'which one first?'

Natsumi quickly knocked down three of the ninjas with several well-placed palm strikes, while Haruko took out two with a split-kick but was knocked down by a kick to the back... 'That one!!!' Akira then rushed straight for the young Uchiha, and harshly kicked her in the ribs while she was getting back up, spinning her body around in the air. He leaped forward and roughly punched her right in the stomach, then turned his body to grab her by the leg and threw her into the air.

Just as Akira getting ready to use a jutsu, he felt a strong burst of energy from behind and turned around to see all his little brothers getting tossed around by a spherical tornado/whirlwind of chakra. 'What in the world...?' Then he felt a gust of wind pass by him, and looked back to see the older girl gently catching the younger one in her arms as she was falling down.

Natsumi hastily laid the bruised girl on the floor and checked her breathing, pulse, heart rate, and blood flow. "I'm fine, Natsumi-san... you're tickling me," Haruko giggled, making Natsumi fondly smile which slowly vanished as she activated her Byukugan, and turned her head towards her target. "Don't you know, shy-boy," She growled out, "That a man should be gentler with a lady, after all we are delicate flowers."

Akira was, once again, shocked beyond belief, when this particular Konoha-ninja glared at him with pupil-less eyes surrounded by bulging veins. 'A Hyuuga?!?!' Was his final thought, before Natsumi disappeared and immediately reappeared, knelt down in front of him, to quickly rise up and slam a Jyuuken palm-strike into his chest, 'This is what you call delicate, you shameless wild elephant...?' Then everything went dark.

'...is amazing.' Gin was surprised when his target 'poofed' into a log. "Kawarimi?!" he whispered before he got pushed off his feet from the side, then strongly punched in the cheek to go flying through the air. He cut his flight short by grabbing his imbedded sword by the hilt and spinning around to land on the ground.

"You've really impressed me, you know that twerp..." Shaking his head, Gin looked up to see a smirking Ranma, "...Not only did you think up several moves ahead of the situation, but you also baited me into attacking to set your plan into motion. What's wrong though, don't tell me you ran out of steam? This was just getting interesting."

Gin narrowed his eyes, but then looked to the side to see that his family was already beaten. He sheathed his katana and began walking away, "Enough of this, you wanted to know what my brother's plans were about, right?" He continued when Ranma nodded, "It was a rather simplistic plan really, he just wanted to make the name of our family famous. He just wanted our name to be known throughout the world."

Ranma remained silent as he recalled Akira saying something similar back at the hotel, 'That was true? I thought he was just lying...'

"Unfortunately..." Gin continued, "He came upon a large mountain in his path... you. Now don't think of my brother as being shallow for wanting fame and glory, his reasons are much deeper than they appear but I have no right to tell you them without his consent."

"Know this though, when the time comes for you to meet that man... everything will be made clear. Until then I bid thee adieu." Gin held up a paper talisman, where smoke quickly surrounded him and the others, and when it cleared not a trace of their presence was left.

'Man, I think things just got a bit more complicated...' Ranma's train of thought was interrupted by a piece of paper floating around his face. Grabbing it out of the air, he silently read the contents then crushed the paper. "What's wrong, Ranma-san?" Haruko asked, he just tossed the crumpled paper over to her, and she re-opened it.

"Next time we meet, the results won't be in your favor. You just got lucky today because Akira-niisan wasn't at his best, if he was at full-power then you wouldn't have won." Haruko read the note outloud. She blinked a few times, and then held her stomach in pain. 'No way, that guy can get even stronger...?' she thought in amazement, and inwardly smirked, 'The chance of fighting someone that strong, now I'm getting really excited.'

Natsumi just looked at the trembling girl with worried eyes, 'That's strange, I'm sure nothing was wrong with her. Maybe I should have Ranma-dono check her out, just in case...'

Ranma stared at the sinister-looking girl, trembling in excitement, then at the worrisome mother-figure and just blanched. He really had to kick those guys' asses for doing this to him, as if these girls weren't hard enough to be around with.

A week later, they were standing outside of the seaport ready to travel to the water country except there was one minor problem...

"What do you mean all ferries to Mizu no Kuni's (Land of Water) been canceled!!!!!!" Ranma shouted at the conductor.

The man could only bow his head in apology, "I'm sorry sir, but the whole island was recently under attack so entrance has been restricted to everyone." Ranma only glared at the man's back as he walked away, and then turned to his friends in annoyance. "Now what do we do?" he grumbled as he eyed the large crowd. They could always run on the water and travel by foot, but that might attract unwanted attention, plus they had to conserve energy.

Just then smoke enveloped the sea shore, and when it cleared a boat was suddenly floating in the water...

The three ninjas looked at the boat with wide eyes and gaping mouths, just where the hell did this thing come from? Ranma cautiously tap the side of the boat with his foot, when it didn't sink or explode, he hopped into it and looked around. He grinned and gave the girls a thumbs-up, signifying that it was okay, and helped them get in.

"Cool, there's even blankets and food here," Haruko commented as she sat on the far end, she was so excited, this was the first time she ever traveled by sea. She then noticed something yummy among the contents, "Chocolate-bars!!! Yay, it even has peanuts and caramel in it!!!" She happily shrieked after biting off half the bar with a single chomp, while opening another pack...

Natsumi carefully sat down at the other end and tried not to move around too much, 'Ugh... I hate boats, and ships, and anything else having to do with traveling by water,' she sickly thought, as she tried not to hurl.

"I think we better take advantage of this gift and leave right now," Ranma said as he saw several people come towards them, "We don't want any stowaways." Then he took the oars and rowed the boat away from the shore, towards their future destination.

Just as he turned the boat around, he noticed several figures in the distance standing on the hillside, two of whom were very familiar. "Akira and Gin?!?!" He quietly exclaimed, making the girls look towards the shore. It was true, the two lightning ninjas were standing next to six other people, each bearing the Kumogakure Hitai-ate. 'I have a strange feeling, that this isn't the last time we're going to see those people,' Ranma wearily thought.

"Is that the guy who beat you up, Akira-niichan?" One of the girls asked, as they watched the leaf-ninjas sail away.

"He didn't beat me up!!!" Akira loudly denied as he lowered his goggles over his eyes, "He just got lucky, and caught me off-guard!!! Plus there were three of them, and they ambushed me too!!!"

Another girl just tilted her head in confusion, "But that's not what Gin told us. From his story, you're the one who surprised them first, and in the end you got clobbered and knocked out by the older girl." This girl looked exactly like the first one except she had a different hairstyle and hair-color.

Gin shrugged indifferently when Akira glared at him, "What? You didn't expect me to lie to our own family, did you? Especially not to Sephiria and Rinali, they're so young and impressionable, I can't have them looking up to a Neanderthal like you."

Akira just grumbled some more before angrily yelling, "Hey wait a minute!!! How come you didn't come to help me back at the hotel, we could have beaten that konoha bastard then and there!!!"

Gin just tapped his chin with a finger, "What are you talking about..." He then snapped his fingers in realization, "Oh yeah, well I was too busy writing my list of insults for him, guess I forgot all about you." Akira was about to stomp towards his annoying target when an even more annoying person grabbed his attention.

"Ora, Nii-chan!!! How could you lose to that pint-sized skin and bones!!!" A large man grunted, while getting into different poses. "If I ever meet him, I'll kick his butt straight to Sunagakure!!! GREAT-O!!!!" He flexed his muscles, making the twins giggle.

"Taka-chan, you should calm down," An elegant women admonished, "It's not your older brother's fault that he's a weakling."

"Nani (What)!!!" Akira shouted indignantly, "Taka-chan, Eve-nee, I am not weak!!! I'm still the 4th strongest member of the group after all!!!" Man, how did he get to be the stooge of the family, especially with a loud, posing idiot like Takaharu in it...

"Maa, Aki-chan..." A cheerful voice interrupted, silencing his whining. "Don't you mean 3rd strongest, since Kuro-buu isn't a part of 'The Seven Wonders.' Remember, he's just the leader of the organization as a whole, and not part of our elite-group."

"Oh yeah, that's right," He bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry Yuki-nii, I keep forgetting that. I still don't understand though, why aren't you part of the elite-squad, Kuro-ani? I mean, you are the boss so you should be able to do whatever you want."

"Akira, I told you before..." the final person quietly said, "...I created 'The Seven Wonders of Kumo' to show people how strong you guys are. I'm like your guardian angel, always looking out for you and making sure you don't get hurt."

Akira looked at Kurogane with stars and childish adoration in his eyes, before Eve slapped him on the back of his head. He turned his head to glare, when his eyes widened and mouth gaped, "What the freak!!! What are you wearing, Eve-nee!!!" He yelled out in shock.

Eve looked down at her clothes with curiosity, "What's wrong?" she asked in confusion. She then sweatdropped when Akira pointed at her and yelled, "What's wrong?!?! Just look at yourself, your dress is way too tight. What's with that hole on the chest, people can see your breasts!!! Not to mention you're wearing fishnet stockings!!!!!! Oh, the shame, the horror, my own sister's a hooker...!" Akira's complaints were cut off when Eve grabbed him in a headlock, and squeezed tightly, "Shut the hell up already, you prudish little brat!!!"

Kurogane just shook his head at the sight and turned to Yukimura, "By the way Yuki, I've been meaning to mention this for awhile now, you act way too happy for a ninja. Enemies are going to think that you're an idiot."

"Eh, what do you mean?" This man had a gentle, feminine face, and wavy blue hair that was split in the middle, and yellow eyes, "I'm not happy at all..." Maybe people would have believed him if he didn't have a big cheerful grin plastered on his face.

Kurogane flatly stared at his younger brother for a moment before turning away. "Forget what I just said, people would be right to assume that you're an id..." He was cut off when a finger kept his mouth closed, and an anger-vein appeared on his forehead as he glared at his smiling younger brother. "Yuki..." He mumbled through tight lips and slowly took out his sword, "...Just die, you moron!!!"

Yukimura quickly ran away from his sword-swinging older brother while laughing merrily, pleased at his results, "Yay!!! Now you're having some fun, Kuro-rin!!!"

"And stop calling me those dumb names, you stupid fool!!!"

Suddenly a feminine foot stuck out, tripping Kurogane, resulting in him falling flat on his face. "Aniki, I have a question for you," Eve said as she sat down on the back of her planted brother, while still holding onto the very-blue Akira, "Why did you give those three that boat?"

Kurogane lifted his head out of the floor and spit some of the dirt out of his mouth, "It's because I wanted to get them out of our hair." He growled in anger when Yukimura crouched in front of him and started poking his nose, giggling like a little kid, "After all, it's getting really close to party-time, and it just won't do to have anyone ruin our fun. Now that I answered your question, Eve... get off of me already."

She did so, but not before shoving his face back into the dirt causing Rinali, Sephiria, Takaharu, and Yukimura to giggle/laugh like crazy, while Gin just sighed at the stupidity of his family. Of course, Akira was still being choked to death but nobody cared about that.

Growling in embarrassment, Kurogane picked himself up and dusted his clothes off, before putting his sunglasses on. "Normally I would never pass up the chance to fight a powerful opponent, but our window of opportunity is getting smaller and smaller." He frowned as the others continued to listen, "If we want any chance of taking back what's rightfully ours, then we can't afford to waste the little time that we have left."

"Come on, let's go back home," He then walked away and his siblings silently followed him, with one foaming at the mouth from lack of air. "But you know..." Kurogane smirked eagerly, "I have a good feeling that this isn't the last time we're going to see those Konoha-shinobi."

Yukimura 'hmmed' as he raised an eyebrow, "No need to worry about them, Kuro-tan," He giddily whispered, "We'll make sure that nothing happens to ruin our all of our hard work. After all, we've sacrificed five years to get to this point, there's no way we'll let you down."

Eve nodded in agreement and finally released Akira from his torture, "That's right, anyone who gets in our way..." She started to say.

Takaharu grinned evilly, "... We'll crush them, BABY," He finished.

Sephiria and Rinali agreed with their declaration by getting into a duel-pose, "Ne!!!" they yelled out and started to giggle. This caused Takaharu to get into several of his own poses, which made Eve smile in amusement and the twins to giggle even louder.

Gin, on the other hand, just groaned and palmed his face in embarrassment, 'I'm surrounded by idiots...' He exasperatedly thought.

After getting his breath back, Akira bursted into laughter, "You see Kuro-ani, we've got everything covered over here, so quit stressin' out. If those punks ever bother us again..." He grinned darkly, "...Then I'll make sure that they regret the day they ever messed with the Lightning Raiders!!! Gyahahahaha!!!!!!"

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Author's Comments (R&R)
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Everyone who thinks Ranma was being OOC during that gambling thing, well he's got a semi-gambling problem. He's got enough control that he won't take out his entire life-savings and bet with it, but he's most likely to lose all the money he has with him at that moment. Let's just say that his mother had some influence on this, she couldn't get completely rid of his compulsive gambling, so she just toned it down enough so he wouldn't lose everything he has.

If the whole love scenes with Tsunade made no sense to you, don't worry 'cause they made no sense to me either. This was the reason why I had Ranma confused as well, since that represents my own confusion. I had to do something to make Tsunade and Shizune part of his harem, unfortunately I had no idea how to do it correctly so I used her being lonely as an excuse. Shizune, well she just has a crush which will further develop into love.

"Raikarada no Jutsu" is essentially electricity covering the entire body, from head to toe, like a lightning-armor. However no regular attacks can destroy the armor, only the Jyuuken can since it's designed to destroy chakra. The armor can automatically heal itself too, as long as the jutsu is still in place, unless it's being destroyed at a very high pace where it doesn't have time to heal. For those of you whose seen Final Fantasy: Advent Children, Raikarada is the same thing as that glowing-attack that Loz (The Biggest SHM/Silver-Haired Men) used sometimes.

"Dai Raiken" is exactly like Chidori, except it has more destructive power. "Buraitou" is basically a lightning-sword formed around a flat hand, I based it on Sauza's attack from the 5th Dragonball Z Movie: 'Battle of the Strongest.' Sauza used it against Piccolo and I just thought it was really cool move. For those of you who don't recognize the title, this was the first Kooler movie.

The 'Lightning Raiders' are a group of Cloud Nekunin (Missing Nins), who's rallied together to form a tight family, like a mafia or syndicate. Let me explain more about the 'Seven Wonders of Kumo,' this is essentially an elite-group within the 'Lightning Raiders.' It comprises of the seven strongest members, excluding Kenji (Aniki/Elder Brother). He didn't make himself part of that group because he didn't want his strength overshadowing the others, that'll pretty much kill the whole point of the elite-group.

Lightning Raiders:
1) Kurogane (Leader)
2) 'Seven Wonder of Kumo.'
3) 100 Chuunin/Jounin Level Ninjas.

Seven Wonders (weakest to strongest):
1) Sephiria and Rinali ~ The Twins
2) Takaharu.
3) Gin.
4) Akira.
5) Eve.
6) Yukimura.

I'll explain more on these guys, since the story will concentrate on them for a while. The twins, Sephiria and Rinali, are your cute and sexy girls, playful but very innocent and dense. Sephiria wore a white dress shirt, a red tie, a low-cut yellow vest, a black jacket, a plaid (square-shape) black & white mini-skirt, and thigh-high white stockings.

Rinali wore a white dress shirt (w/ green collar, sleeves, and a bow), a pleated green skirt, and scrunched-up knee socks. Basically, Sephiria wears an American school-girl outfit, while Rinali wears a Japanese one.

Takaharu is your comedian, the one who loudly proclaims things and poses a lot (Ginyu Force from 'DBZ,' and Franky from 'One Piece'), and he's also the largest member of the family. He has a portion of the left side of his head shaven off, and the rest of his hair is spiked and combed over to the right. His hair color is light green, and he has black eyes. For a better idea of his hair-style, just look at Razlo/Livio from the 'Trigun' manga, only with more hair on the left side. He just wore blue suspender-jeans, white sneakers, and bandages covering his stomach and hands/forearms. The words that are in capitalization means that he's emphasizing them and saying it in English.

Gin is your silent but cool type, the one who insults everyone in a dull and bland tone (Ruri from 'Martian Successor Nadesico'). He wore a Japanese school uniform, a white long-sleeve shirt (it zips up, I guess), black sleeveless shirt (underneath), white pants, and dress shoes. He wraps his Hitai-ate around his left arm, which could double as a bandana, he usually does this only when he gets really serious or mad. If anyone recognizes this school uniform, please help me out here, I need a name for it.

Akira is your everyday hero-character; loud, rude, brash, over confident, loyal, willing to die, etc (Yusuke, Luffy, Naruto, etc). But he's really shy, and harshly reprimands women who wears sexy clothes (Paulie from 'One Piece.') He wears leather all the time because he thinks it makes him look cooler, he wore a long-sleeve black shirt and black pants, and a custom-made blue trench coat. The goggles he wears are the same ones that Cloud from 'Final Fantasy: Advent Children' wore at the beginning of the movie, except the lens are yellow instead of black.

Eve is the female protagonist of the family, she's intelligent, beautiful, sarcastic, and kicks ass (Faye from 'Cowboy Bebop). Haven't decided on the hair-style yet, but her hair color is platinum and her eyes are blood red. In this chapter, she wears a red Cheongsam/Qipao (Chinese Dress) which has an image of a koi fish. Its ankle-length, sleeveless, has a mandarin collar, and has a diamond-shaped cut in the middle, revealing the curves of her breasts. The dress-portion is split really far at both sides, showing a lot of leg, and she also wore red elbow-length gloves and black fishnet stockings to match the outfit.

Yukimura is your overly-cheerful type but when the going gets tough, he's definitely a force to reckon with. Basically he's like Fai from 'Tsubasa Chronicles.' Peculiar thing is that I modeled his head after Yukimura Seiichi from 'Prince of Tennis.' He always wears really fancy clothes, here he was wearing a Black Harmony Embroidered Silk Frock Coat, a White Dress Shirt, an Ivory Tie, Black Business Pants, Black Dress Shoes, and frameless rectangle-shaped glasses.

(Jus type in "Black Harmony Embroidered Silk Frock Coat" in a search engine to see the suit, it's really nice. Wish I could afford something like that.)

Kurogane is your character who appears cold, evil, and distant, but in reality he's a big softie (Zoro from 'One Piece' and Kurogane from 'Tsubasa Chronicles'). He wore a white/blue boxing robe ('Rurouni Kenshin' Sanosuke's shirt), white/blue boxing shorts, black gloves (brass knuckles), and dark blue circle-shaped sunglasses. He has green eyes and spiky blonde & black hair; (picture River from 'Black Cat' because the hair style is exactly like that). His Hitai-ate is wrapped around his waist, like a championship belt. I purposely named him Kurogane, so I could use all those funny names that Faye uses in 'Tsubasa Chronicles,' I just love those little nicknames.

I'll come up with more detailed descriptions of all my original characters later, including Ranma, since I need to get a better image of how they'll look and if they'll fit the character that I've chosen for them. Obviously Ranma is pretty easy, but the others are much harder since I don't have an image already made to base them on.

I might as well comment on the heroes' clothing too, just so I could remember in the future. Ranma was wearing his white/black leather jacket, a silver kung-fu shirt, black pants, kung-fu sandals, and silver oval-shaped sunglasses.

Natsumi's kimono fairly resembles a short dress, this is so that she could run, kick, and generally move around without feeling constricted. Its color is light gray with a black obi (belt), and it has orange sun patterns all around.

Haruko wore a small turquoise tanktop (shows her bellybutton), short white cargo-pants, a blue jean jacket, black leather gloves, and black boots. She's fairly developed for a twelve-year old, so that tanktop won't be wasted on her.

I'll be changing the outfits of my characters regularly, mostly because I want to imagine them in different outfits. I refuse to believe that people will be stuck wearing the same clothing day in and day out, it's bound to get smelly. I'll be setting a pattern for the outfits though, like Ranma always wears Chinese clothing, plus his leather jacket and sunglasses. Natsumi wears traditional Japanese clothing like yukata and kimono, except it's been altered to make it more sexy, revealing more skin than it should. Haruko wears basic teenager clothes, tight shirt, short pants, skirt, or dress, etc.